Picking machine



- E. A. BOTIMER July 15, .1941.

' PICKING MACHINE Filed Sept. 26, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I drill/IllVIIIIIIIIII l L vi ll:

mmvm fa I'ZA Bafz'mer Patented July 15, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT,OFFICE rionrne nsonmn Eel-1A. Botimer, Bay City, Mich.- ApplicationSeptember 26, measure-1N6. 231,673

' 5 Claims. romeo- 284),

This invention relates to bean pickers and similar machines and moreparticularly to a hand picker, where operators pick the commerciallyunsalable beans from the good product as the conveyor carries themacross the machine.

One of the prime objects of -the inventionis to design a very simple andinexpensive picker including means for screening sand, dirt,"pods andother foreign matter from the product, as it travels through themachine. Another object is'to provide simple; practical, manuallyoperable means for controlling the speed of travel of the belt conveyor.i

A further object is to provide an easily operable control mechanism fordeclutching the drum and" conveyor driving means and arresting the flowof the product to the belt conveyon.

Afurther'object still is to design a'very simple, yet substantialmachine composed of few parts. all of sturdy construction, which can bereadily manufactured, and which is easy 'toassemble and operate. Withthe above and other objects in view, "the present invention consistsin'the combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fullydescribed, illustrated in the accompanying draw,- ings, and moreparticularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understoodthat changes may be made in the form, size, proportion, and minordetails of construction, without departing from the spirit, orsacrificing any of the advantages of the invention;

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of my bean picker. 7

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view thereof, the frame being broken awayto show the endless conveyor. 7

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary part sectional view showing theoperating mechanism, the brokenlines illustrating the position of thedrum and drive when vdeclutched.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail showing the :belt tightener. a I

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on' the line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the variable speed drive.

Referring now more particularly to the draw- 1 ings, the letter Aindicates a preferably structural frame including front and rear legs 0and M respectively, the rear legs H projecting above the front legs, andbearing l3 at least one of which is a thrust bearing are mounted thereonless belt 11 i trained over said rollers andv forms a carrier for theproduct to be picked,

A drive pu'l1ey"l8 is provided on the one, .end

of the shaft 14 and is'drivingly connected to .a'

motor, (not shown) or to any other suitable source of power.

In practise the operator sits in front of the machine, and theficonveyorbelt travels towards said operator, the beans discharging from the beltinto a hopper 1'9 provided .at the one end of the conveyor'frame, saidhopper opening into a chute 20 which lead to a bin or receptacle (notshown).

Small trays or boxes '21 are provided on opposite sides of the'endlesscarrier and are adapted to receive the hulls, discolored beans,.andflother foreign matter removed from the good product by the operatoras it is carried to the hopper by the endless belt.

This belt, hopper, etc. is of conventional design and is used on hand.picking machines at present 7 in general use.

In practise I have found it very desirable to screen out sand, smallsplits, and other foreign matter as the beans flowfrom the feed hopper,and I therefore provide a sleeve 22 on the shaft 14, and mount acylindrical screen or drum 23 ontheone endthereof with the head of thedrum keyed on said sleeve to rotate therewith.

A feed hopper 24 is mounted on the cross =mem- 7 her 25 which connectsthe upper ends of the members H, and an angularly disposed trough 26opens there-into as shown, an extension chute Zlbeing telescopicallyconnected to the end of 7 said spout and extend into the cylindricaldrum 23., so that the product flows direct from the feed hopper to thedrum. Aleg l8 depends from the chute 2'l, and a similar leg 29 dependsfrom the spout 26, a rod 30 being anchored to the leg 28, and extendsthrough a suitable opening in-the leg 29, the end being threaded toreceive a wing nut vill as usual.

A washer 32 is-solidly mounted on the rod 3| as shown, and a spring 33is interposed between the' washer '32" and the leg 29, thus yieldinglysecuring the extension chute '27 in set position, and it will be obviousthat the feed can be regulated by adjusting the open end of theextension 21 with relation to'the end wall of the drum,

the beans discharging into said drum and thence being discharged fromthe open end of the drum onto the endless belt I! as the machine isdriven, the sand, pods, and other foreign matter bein screened out anddischarging into the inclined chute 34 as the machine is driven.

A friction clutch plate 35 is mounted on the shaft [4 directly adjacentto and in engagement with the drum 23, and a coil spring 36 isinterposed between the opposite end of the sleeve and the collar 31 sothat the drum 23 i normally forced into driving contact with the clutch35.

The endless belt is driven from the sleeve 22, a split pulley C beingmounted on said sleeve, and comprises the identically similar members 38and 39 respectively, the member 38 being bored to provide a driving fitso that it is solid on the sleeve, while the member 39 is bored so thatit loosely fits on the sleeve 22 and is adjustable thereon, openings 40being provided in the member 38 in alignment with laterally disposedpins 4| which are mounted on the member 39. Any

adjusting member 42 is mounted on this sleeve 22, and is bored andthreaded to engage the threaded section 43 of the sleeve, and it will beobvious that thi adjusting member can be 'rotated to force the member 39toward the member 38, narrowing the groove in the pulley and therebyincreasing the efiective driving diameter thereof.

A V-belt 44 is trained over this pulley C, thence being trained over thepulley D which drives the endless belt H. A belt tightener is providedas shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings and comprises a transversely disposedshaft 45 which is mounted in the conveyor frame B, a lever 45 beingmounted on. one end of said shaft, and an idler pulley 4'! is journaledon the end of said lever and engages the belt 44. A crank 48 is providedon the opposite end of the shaft 45 and a spring 49 is anchored theretoand to the conveyor frame, so that a tension is provided on the belt atall times.

When it is desired to change the speed of travel of the endless belt,the operator merely rotates the adjusting member 42 to increase ordecrease the effective driving diameter of the pulley C, and the speedof the belt is increased or decreased as desired, the idler mchanismserving to provide the necessary driving tension at all times. 4

A declutching mechanism is provided for stopping the endless belt ll anddrum 23, and comprises a shifting lever 50 formed, as clearly shown inFigs. 1 and 2, this lever being journaled in bearings 51 provided on theframe, and a loop section 52 engages the pulley section 38, and when theoperators knee is forced against the flatted section 53 of the lever 50,the sleeve and complete drum assembly will slide longitudinally on theshaft l4 and out of engagement with the clutch plate 35 thus stoppingthe endless belt and drum 23.

In practise the product to be picked is placed inthe feed hopper 24,thence it flows down the trough 26, through the chute 21 and into thedrum 23, where the sand and other foreign matter is screened into thechute 34, the product being discharged from the drum onto the travelingbeltl'l, the culls splits and commercially unsalable product beingpicked from the belt, and are deposited in the boxes 2| by the operatoras the product is carried along, the good stock discharging into thehopper l9 and thence flowing to a suitable bin or receptacle.

I wish to direct particular attention to the fact that the speed oftravel can be easily and quickly adjusted to regulate the volume ofstock deposited on the belt, and also that the belt and drum travel canbe arrested by declutching the drum 23, from the clutch plate 35 toenable the operator to catch up when an unusually bad batch of beans isflowing through the machine, or for' any other reason.

What I claim is: I

l. A picking machine of the class described and comprising a main frame,a feed hopper mounted thereon, a drive shaft, a perforated sifting drumconcentric with and freely rotatable about said shaft and having oneopen and one closed end, an extensible chute leading from the feedhopper and extending into said sifting drum, said chute discharging theproduct to be processed at a point directly adjacent the closed end wallthereof, a clutch plate on said shaft adjacent the closed end wall ofthe drum, means for forcing the end-wall of the drum into drivingengagement' with said clutch plate, means for shifting said sifting drumout of driving engagement with said-clutch plate, and means for drivingsaid shaft.

2. A picking machine of the class described and comprising a main frame,a feed hopper, a drive shaft, a freely rotatable sleeve on said shaft, aperforated shifting drum concentrically mounted on said sleeve andhaving one open and one closed end, a telescopic chute leading from thehopper to the inside of said drum for discharging the product to beprocessed at a point directly adjacent the closed end wall thereof, aclutch platoon said shaft, and means for shifting said sleeve and drumassembly to move the end wall of the drum out of driving engagement withsaid clutch plate.

'3. A picking machine of the class described and comprising a mainframe, a drive shaft, a feed hopper on said frame, a freely rotatablesleeve on the drive shaft, a perforated sifting drum concentricallymounted on said sleeve and formed with one open and one closed end, atelescopic chute leading from said hopper into said drum for dischargingthe product to be processed at a point directly adjacent the closed endwall thereof, 'a clutch plate on the main shaft, resilient meansengageable with said sleeve and normally tending to force said drum intodriving engagement with the clutch plate, and means associated with saidsleeve for shifting said sifting drum out of engagement with said clutchplate.

4. A picking machine of the class described and comprising a main frame,a drive shaft mounted thereon, a feed hopper on the frame, a

sleeve longitudinally slidable and freely rotatable on the shaft and aperforated sifting drum concentrically mounted on said sleeve and formedwith one open and one closed end, a clutch plate mounted on said shaftand in driving engagement with the closed end wall of said drum, aspring pressed extensible chute leading from said hopper into saidsifting drum with its discharge end spaced a predetermined smalldistance from the closed end wall of the drum, and manually operablemeans for shifting said sleeve and drum assembly out of drivingengagement with said clutch plate and the end of the chute against theclosed end wall of the drum for cutting off clined chute leading fromsaid hopper and extending into said sifting drum, with the lowerend ofthe chute spaced a predetermined small distance from the closed end wallof the drum,

manually operable means for shifting the sleeve and the drum assemblyout of engagement with said clutch plate and the closed end Wall of thesifting drum against the lower end of the chute for automaticallycutting off the flow of the 10 product being processed to said siftingdrum.

7 EARL A. BOTIMER.

